Accessibility Links

100 best British hotels: country

Rustic retreats

The Sunday Times

October 15 2017, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

House of lord: the Beaverbrook

Winner: Beaverbrook, Surrey New openingCherkley Court, near Box Hill, is the former estate of the press baron Lord Beaverbrook, and it has been transformed into this year’s best weekend away. You can hole up in the Garden House, which has 11 rustic-chic rooms, but for the full Fleet Street experience, shell out for the House. Wherever you wander, there’s history: curl up in the art deco cinema where Beaverbrook watched Pathé reports and plotted strategies with Churchill; and view the Surrey Hills from the terrace, a spot that inspired Rudyard Kipling to write a poem about the house. The 18 bedrooms are named after past A-list visitors. Elizabeth Taylor is all feminine pastels. Ian Fleming cuts a dash in black and white. Dinner is…